


Molecular Memories

by ChokolatteJedi



Series: Identity Manifesto [3]
Category: Firefly, Serenity (2005)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Gen, Ghosts, Insanity, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-28
Updated: 2012-05-28
Packaged: 2017-11-06 06:49:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/415984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At a molecular level, Wash was gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Molecular Memories

**Author's Note:**

> For my Whedonland Manifesto Challenge, "Identity"

At a molecular level, Wash was gone.

But he was still there with them. Wash and Preacher and even the man with the eyes of the universe. Those three were new, but dozens of bodies resided in the memories of Serenity. It was implied in her very name and being. Most of them the Captain and Zoe brought with them from the war. A battle against memories was waged in her halls every day.

But they weren't the only ones.

Preacher had skeletons in his closet too, when he was with them. Ones he never shared, but she could sense them around him. They weighed on him every moment. Jayne was surrounded too, but only one memory really lived with him. Others just skimmed off him like grease. Every now and then she could feel it, feel his pain, and she knew he remembered the boy.

The others had been innocent – free – until Miranda.

Miranda changed them all. She knew it would, and she didn't want it to, but she had to get it out of her. And because of her, because of Miranda, there was a cost. Wash was physically gone, but his memory haunted each of them – even the innocent ones. Kaylee and Simon and Inara each felt him, too. And now they were stuck in Serenity, just like the others.

Never changing, never leaving.

Molecularly, Wash was gone, but his spirit tied them together, tied them to the ship. Tied them to Serenity. River had lived in Miranda so long, with so many skeletons. She wondered how it would feel to only live in Serenity. The Captain felt crowded in his sky, but River thought it might finally empty a little.

She sat in his chair, and no matter how much time passed, it would always be his chair. She was just keeping it warm for a little while. But someone had to fly, and she knew how. And she could see clearly in the black. And some day there would be another, and the crew would teach him.

Because, on Serenity, at a molecular level, Wash wasn't entirely gone. And River was just keeping the chair warm.


End file.
